It may be that Rook’s unconventional methods and her approach to learning came from her experience as a student, growing up in a home school environment. With the exception of one year in high school, her mother schooled the now public schoolteacher at home.

Home schooling methods vary but by and large they tend to incorporate holistic practices that bring several different disciplines together in one lesson or project. They also tend to incorporate the unconventional methods not readily found in the classroom. Perhaps the best example of this is The Wren Project.

Wren is the puppy that will eventually be trained to become a guide dog for a blind person. Rook had conceived of the project last year when she worked for another school district. That district wasn’t interested in allowing her to bring a dog into the classroom so when she moved on to Chowan, the project was a good fit with the school’s desire to broaden its approach to education.